I’m honored to be joined today by best-selling author and former US Navy Captain Mike Abrashoff!  Mike served as the captain of one of the US Navy’s top performing ships where he engineered a legendary 1-year turnaround from being one of the Navy’s poorest performing ships. Mike – and his ship – earned coveted awards with the exact same crew!  Since his time in the Navy, Mike published a book many of your will recognize, “It’s Your Ship” – where he details the challenges he faced and the mechanisms he implemented to drive a new culture, and deliver top performance.  He’s agreed to share some stories from his people management journey as well as offer you some of his proven techniques.  You’ll hear him share his perspective and learnings from leading 6 missions in the Persian-gulf at the same time, and he’ll discuss how he discovered some nuanced ways to improve circumstances for his staff to earn their promotions when they put in the effort. 

I’ve invited Mike to the ManagerMirror because a past boss of mine gave me his book and I have personally put his concepts into practice with my own team.  The book left a big impact on me.  “Its Your Ship” chronicles his experience implementing his leadership roadmap as the captain of the highly touted USS Benfold.  Mike offers clear, battle-tested, and actionable steps. Throughout his career, he shows people at every level of the organization how to engage and take incremental steps toward change that can make a dramatic difference in performance and career satisfaction. Mike will tell you, “I didn’t turn the ship around – my crew did that.  What I did was to create an environment where they felt safe, empowered and supported. When you do that, anything is possible.”  A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Mike served for 19 years and led other naval officers in many capacities.  Today, Mike is a partner with Aegis Performance Group where he and his staff provide training and consulting to the corporate world surrounding building the next generation of leaders.  Connect with Mike on LinkedIn to stay current with his leadership teachings and his next public presentation dates!